Republicans, beginning with Donald Trump, are saying that the United States doesn't need a bipartisan border bill because Joe Biden has all the power he needs to handle the crisis. He can "shut down the border" now if he wants to.
Larry Kudlow makes this argument.
"Joe Biden doesn't need a bill to fix the border. He just needs to enforce the law. The law, is section 212(f) of the immigration and nationality act, which gives the president authority to suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens," Kudlow wrote on Fox Business.
“Just point blank, that Biden could do this on his own is just not true. There’s simply not enough asylum officers,” said Taylor Levy, a longtime immigration attorney.
That may be true, so why not limit asylum claims? Why not tighten eligibility for asylum so that people who aren't fleeing oppression but only want a better job are barred from entering the U.S.?
Don't tell anyone, but that's exactly what the dead border bill would have done. Oops.
Shutting the border would necessarily lead to tens of billions of dollars lost on both sides. How long should the border be shut? Should every car and truck be searched for illegals?
Hundreds of thousands of cars and trucks cross the border every day. More than $3 billion in goods cross into the U.S. and Mexico every day. If the border is closed for any length of time, it could precipitate an economic crisis in Mexico. What do you suppose the border would look like if that happened?
There's also the matter of violating international law by turning away refugees. At the very least, international law demands that all asylum seekers receive a hearing of some kind. And with U.S. law preventing detaining illegal aliens any longer than a few days, the situation on the border is not as easy as simply closing the gates. If asylum seekers show up at the border, they must be heard.
Biden is readying a series of executive orders that are supposed to ease pressure on the border. But they have to pass a court test first, and that's by no means a certainty.
Two U.S. officials told NBC News that the White House wants to take action to preempt a likely rise in encounters at the border, as efforts by Congress to stem the record figures failed again this week. The officials said plans for an executive order have been under consideration for months, particularly after immigrant encounters at the border broke an all-time record in December.
The officials said the executive order is likely to upset some progressives in Congress, likely those who came out and voted against the Senate border bill that took White House officials and Senate Democrat and Republican leadership months to negotiate.
However, they noted that Democratic mayors from areas suffering from the thousands of immigrants entering their cities will be happy, such as Mayors Brandon Johnson in Chicago and Mike Johnston in Denver.
If it's going to please the progressive Democratic big city mayors, the EO will likely include a speed-up of work permits for illegals and stricter rules on allowing single males into the country.
If Donald Trump is elected, he'll face the same dilemma that Biden is facing; only Congress can truly shut the border, and without a Republican super-majority in both chambers, there will be no immigration bill.
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